Safety is the top priority for all airport stakeholders. This is why Belgocontrol and the Public Service of Wallonia (SPW) have signed an agreement formalizing the cooperation between the two organizations for jointly managing air safety at Liège and Charleroi airports.

Walloon airports are booming and their business is constantly growing. Major infrastructure works are in progress or will soon begin in the vicinity of the runways and on the manoeuvring areas of Liège Airport and Brussels South Charleroi Airport. The Walloon airports structures have also changed over the past years. This prompted Belgocontrol and the SPW to formalize the close collaboration regarding air safety that has been in place for many years between the local stakeholders. The new agreement governs all aspects related to coordination and cooperation for the joint management of air safety at Walloon airports and complies with the international and European regulations in force.

In this respect, both organizations undertake to exchange structurally all data and information related to air safety, such as occurrences and incidents reports, safety studies and reviews on any operational change that may have an impact on safety – particularly during airport infrastructure works.

Modern and responsible management of air safety

Coordination meetings between Belgocontrol Safety units, the SPW and the operational departments of Liège and Charleroi airports are planned on a regular basis. This formal cooperation allows for modern and responsible management of all aspects related to safety, which is the number one priority for all stakeholders in the airline industry.

In 2017 Belgocontrol safely managed 92,241 flight movements at Charleroi Airport and 54,962 movements at Liège Airport. Nearly eight million passengers and more than 700,000 tonnes of freight passed through Wallonia airports in 2017, an all-time record.

Johan Decuyper, BelgocontrolCEO:

“Our employees ensure air traffic safety day after day and night after night. This agreement will enable a fuller and faster exchange of information. Our close cooperation can also be tuned to the context of expanding Walloon airports Belgocontrol fully supports. With one goal: maintaining the highest safety level for the benefit of all users – passengers, airlines, local residents, etc.”

Jean-Luc Crucke, Walloon Minister for Airports:

“The signing of this agreement between both authorities is a major step that will strongly consolidate the exchange of information, which can have an immediate effect on air safety of our Walloon airports. The existing management system will be all the more efficient. I am also pleased about this sound collaboration, which remains for me a priority for the further development of our airports.”

François Bellot, Federal Minister for Mobility:

“We make it our priority to ensure air traffic safety. Belgocontrol’s outcomes in this respect are impressive: 2016 and 2017 are among the best years in the Belgian history of air traffic control. Proof, if it were ever needed, that safety is embedded in the DNA of Belgocontrol’s air traffic controllers. Thanks to the efforts of the Federal Government, Belgocontrol can fully take on its role and crucial public missions in the airspace as well as in the airports located on the domestic territory.”